Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LAGASH, or SIRPURLA

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 72 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

LAGASH, or SIRPURLA , one of the See also:oldest centres of Sumerian See also:civilization in Babylonia. It is represented by a rather See also:low, See also:long See also:line of ruin mounds, along the dry See also:bed of an See also:ancient See also:canal, some 3 M. E. of the Shatt-el-See also:Hal and a little less than 10 m. N. of the See also:modern See also:Turkish See also:town of Shatra. These ruins were discovered in 1877 by Ernest de Sarzec, at that See also:time See also:French See also:consul at See also:Basra, who was allowed, by the Montefich See also:chief, Nasir See also:Pasha, the first Wali-Pasha, or See also:governor-See also:general, of Basra, to excavate at his See also:pleasure in the territories subject to that See also:official. At the outset on his own See also:account, and later as a representative of the French See also:government, under a Turkish See also:firman, de Sarzec continued excavations at this site, with various intermissions, until his See also:death in 1901, after which the See also:work was continued under the supervision of the Commandant Cros. The See also:principal excavations were made in two larger mounds, one of which proved to be the site of the See also:temple, E-Ninnu, the See also:shrine of the See also:patron godof Lagash, Nin-girsu or See also:Ninib. This temple had been razed and a fortress built upon its ruins, in the See also:Greek or Seleucid See also:period, some of the bricks found bearing the inscription in Aramaic and Greek of a certain See also:Hadad-nadin-akhe, See also:king of a small Babylonian See also:kingdom. It was beneath this fortress that the numerous statues of Gudea were found, which constitute the See also:gem of the Babylonian collections at the Louvre. These had been decapitated and otherwise mutilated, and thrown into the See also:foundations of the new fortress. From this stratum came also various fragments of bas reliefs of high See also:artistic excellence. The excavations in the other larger See also:mound resulted in the See also:discovery of the remains of buildings containing See also:objects of all sorts in See also:bronze and See also:stone, dating from the earliest Sumerian period onward, and enabling us to trace the See also:art See also:history of Babylonia to a date some hundreds of years before the time of Gudea.

Apparently this mound had been occupied largely by See also:

store houses, in which were stored not only See also:grain, See also:figs, &c., but also vessels, weapons, sculptures and every possible See also:object connected with the use and See also:administration of See also:palace and temple. In a small outlying mound de Sarzec discovered the archives of the temple, about 30,000 inscribed See also:clay tablets, containing the business records, and revealing with extraordinary minuteness the administration of an ancient Babylonian temple, the See also:character of its See also:property, the method of farming its lands, herding its flocks, and its commercial and See also:industrial dealings and enter-prises; for an ancient Babylonian temple was a See also:great industrial, commercial, agricultural and stock-raising See also:establishment. Unfortunately, before these archives could be removed, the galleries containing them were rifled by the See also:Arabs, and large See also:numbers of the tablets were sold to antiquity dealers, by whom they have been scattered all over See also:Europe and See also:America. From the See also:inscriptions found at Tello, it appears that Lagash was a See also:city of great importance in the Sumerian period, some time probably in the 4th See also:millennium B.C. It was at that time ruled by See also:independent See also:kings, Ur-Nina and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the See also:east and the kings of Kengi and See also:Kish on the See also:north. With the Semitic See also:conquest it lost its See also:independence, its rulers becoming patesis, dependent rulers, under See also:Sargon and his successors; but it still remained Sumerian and continued to be a city of much importance, and, above all, a centre of artistic development. Indeed, it was in this period and under the immediately succeeding supremacy of the kings of Ur, Ur-Gur and Dungi, that it reached its highest artistic development. At this period, also, under its patesis, Ur-bau and Gudea, Lagash had extensive commercial communications with distant realms. According to his own records, Gudea brought cedars from the Amanus and See also:Lebanon mountains in See also:Syria, See also:diorite or dolorite from eastern See also:Arabia, See also:copper and See also:gold from central and See also:southern Arabia and from See also:Sinai, while his armies, presumably under his over-See also:lord, Ur-Gur, were engaged in battles in See also:Elam on the east. His was especially the era of artistic development. Some of the earlier See also:works of Ur-Nina, En-See also:anna-turn, Entemena and others, before the Semitic conquest, are also extremely interesting, especially the famous See also:stele of the vultures and a great See also:silver See also:vase ornamented with what may be called the coat of arms of Lagash, a See also:lion-headed See also:eagle with wings outspread, grasping a lion in each talon. After the time of Gudea, Lagash seems to have lost its importance; at least we know nothing more about it until the construction of the Seleucid fortress mentioned, when it seems to have become See also:part of the Greek kingdom of Characene.

The objects found at Tello are the most valuable art treasures up to this time discovered in Babylonia. See E. de Sarzec, Decouvertes en See also:

Chaldee (1887 See also:foil.). (J. P.

End of Article: LAGASH, or SIRPURLA

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LAGARDE, PAUL ANTON DE (1827–1891) 		[next]
LAGHMAN

Site © 2006 - Net Industries